Antebellum Cotton Economy of the U.S. South (1793–1865)

1. Cotton gin patent accelerates cotton processing

   Mar 14, 1794Labels: Eli Whitney, Cotton gin, U S

   • PBS
   • Yale Archives

2. U.S. limits participation in international slave trade

   Mar 22, 1794Labels: Slave Trade, U S

   • Congress Wiki

3. Louisiana Purchase expands land for cotton and slavery

   Apr 30, 1803Labels: Louisiana Purchase, U S

   • National Archives

4. Law bans importation of enslaved people into U.S.

   Mar 2, 1807Labels: Act of, Thomas Jefferson

   • Battlefields
   • Act Wiki

5. Missouri Compromise sets early limits on slavery’s expansion

   Mar 6, 1820Labels: Missouri Compromise, James Monroe

   • Census History
   • Britannica

6. Indian Removal Act opens Southeast lands to cotton expansion

   May 28, 1830Labels: Indian Removal, Native American

   • Britannica

7. Texas annexation adds major new slaveholding cotton region

   Mar 1, 1845Labels: Texas Annexation, Republic of

   • Texas Library
   • Britannica

8. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo reignites slavery-in-the-territories debate

   Feb 2, 1848Labels: Treaty of, Mexican Cession

   • National Archives
   • Britannica

9. Compromise of 1850 temporarily defuses sectional crisis

   Sep 9, 1850Labels: Compromise of, U S

   • National Archives
   • Britannica

10. Fugitive Slave Act strengthens slaveholders’ legal power

    Sep 18, 1850Labels: Fugitive Slave, Millard Fillmore

    • Fugitive Act
    • Britannica

11. Kansas–Nebraska Act repeals Missouri Compromise line

    May 30, 1854Labels: Kansas Nebraska, Franklin Pierce

    • Britannica

12. Dred Scott decision limits federal power to restrict slavery

    Mar 6, 1857Labels: Dred Scott, U S

    • Britannica

13. Cotton dominates U.S. exports on eve of Civil War

    Jan 1, 1860Labels: King Cotton, U S

    • Richmond Fed

14. Thirteenth Amendment ratification ends slavery nationwide

    Dec 6, 1865Labels: Thirteenth Amendment, Abolition of

    • Census History
    • History com